Though it was sad that this was our last class trip, I really enjoyed the TriBeCa area for the same sort of reasons I enjoyed SoHo.  TriBeCa is cute and full of art, but even less overly trendy then SoHo.  Again, I walked to this set of galleries, which definitely deepens my insight into the area because I get to see how it varies as I approach, as opposed to hopping off of a subway a mere two blocks away.
            Before our visit, I was browsing the website for Art in General, and it seemed to be a really interesting art space.  I was particularly intrigued by Art in General’s residency exchange program, both nationally and internationally.  Sending artists out into the world will provide them with a completely new perspective, but bringing artists from elsewhere to you will give both of you a different viewpoint.  I think that this program is a really great way to encourage communication and exchange, not just in terms of art but in the more general sense of life.  I also saw several works listed on the website, and the concept of having an installation in the elevator seemed exciting, but upon arrival, was disappointed to find that there wasn’t as much to be seen as I had expected.  In Gallery 6, Ireally enjoyed the Elevator Stretching program of Eastern European Residency Exchange Hungarian artist Antal Lakner’s “Systems,” however.  Living on the 27th floor, I use an elevator every day, so it was certainly something to think about next time I’m bored while traveling between floors.  Upon first view of Jihyun Park’s Uptown, Uptown, I wasn’t particularly impressed, but upon closer inspection, it became more intriguing.  The best vantage point is decidedly directly underneath the installation, for it is up close that the work is the most interesting.
            I really enjoyed the visit to Sherri Hollaender’s studio, and it was nice to have a sort of full circle to the semester.  Though we have occasionally encountered artists in the galleries we have visited, none of them have spoke to us as long or as in depth as Sherri did, which allowed me to gain a much deeper insight into her finished works by first understanding the process and motivations behind them.  Sherri’s stories of her travels were fascinating, and it was apparent that they had been the driving force behind her art work.  It was interesting to see how she would take an idea and use it to produce several works, then modify it slightly to produce several works, etc… thus resulting in many different sets of works that shared defining characteristics, but each had unique qualities of their own, such as the numerous series of circles which took on many different forms and styles.
            Our very last stop at Susan Grossman’s DFN Gallery was another enjoyable visit.  I loved New Drawings.  I really liked her use of color: her paintings were almost all black and white, save a very select use of bright color.  This method made what she chose to color all the more meaningful, drawing great attention to whatever it happened to be.  The other thing that really stood out about her drawings was their sense of movement.  In almost all of them there was a distinct movement in the process of happening and often a sense of urgency, for example a person mid-step, that made it appear as thought the drawing was actually a snapshot taken in the middle of a great commotion.  On the other hand, DFN’s other show, Clare Kirkconnell’s Rain, made vivid use of color, particularly blue and green.  I also enjoyed her use of color for entirely different reasons: the way Kirkconnell blended colors showed depth and perspective.  There was also a surprising range in the show considering that they were all being presented under the same name.  Though I felt all of the works fairly represented the title, many of them did so in different ways.  This is not a bad thing, but rather something that caught my eye.  Some of Kirkconnell’s paintings, for example, were highly reminiscent of Monet’s " Water Lilies", while several others were significantly more abstract with much less shape to them.